Geneva motor show 2012: Nissan confirms LMP2 commitment

Nissan's executive vice president of engineering Andy Palmer has ruled out taking the marque in to LMP1 Racing under the current regulations, but has confirmed its commitment to LMP2 as well as hinting that other innovative racing projects could be announced in the near future.

Talking to Autocar at the Geneva motor show, he said: "We've no plans to do LMP1. The hybrid moves in that class are interesting, but there's no link back for us to a diesel hybrid. The rules would have to open up to make petrol hybrid competitive and relevant to make it really interesting."

However, Palmer has reaffirmed Nissan's commitment to other classes of motorsport, including sportscar racing, electric car racing and "something crazy".

"Whatever we decide to do, we like to win - look at LMP2, GT3 and Super GT," said Palmer. "The issue is linking that winning back to the brand - which is why we've started the NISMO road car project.

"More interesting than LMP1 at the moment is electric car racing. We have eight NISMO RS Leafs now, and we think the possibilities are very interesting. Zero emission racing could take place indoors or in the heart of a city, so we're looking at that."

Palmer declined to elaborate on his comment that "we want to do some crazy things in the near future", but the brand is said to have been delighted by the coverage received by the oddball, one-off Juke-GTR road car project recently.